Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1887-09-19


was opened to-day. The came overwhelm,
ing thropgs were in attendance as before.
The congregation sang with great effect
the hymn
| Before Jehovahs awful throne
Ne nations bow with sacred Joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone,
lie can create and he destroy
After explaining appropriate passages o.
Scripture d.. Talmage took his text from
Genesis xii, Al: And Pharaoh said unto
Joseph: See, have set thee over ali the
land of Egypt" The subject of the sermon
was ''The Prime Minister" DR.. Talmage
said:
You cannot keep good man down. God
has decreed for him a certain elevation TO
which he must attain. He will bring him
through though it cost Him thousand
worlds. There are men constantly in trou-
BILE lest they shall not be appreciated.
Every man comes in the end to be valued
at Just what he is worth. How often do
you see men turn out all their forces to
crush one man or set of men. How do they
succeed? No better than did the govern
ment that tried to crush Joseph, Scrip
ture character upon which we speak to-day.
1t would be an insult to suppose that you
were not all familiar with the life of Jo-
seph how his jealous brothers threw him
into the pit, but, seeing 4 caravan of Arab
ian merchants moving along on their cam
els with spices and gums that loaded the air
with aroma
SOLD THEIR BROTHER
to these merchants, who carried him down
into Egypt; how Joseph was sold to
POtiphar, man of influence and office;
how by his integrity he raised himself to
high position in the realm, until under
the false charge of vile wretch he was
hurled into the penitentiaTy; how in prison
he commanded respect and confidence;
how by the Interpretation of Pharaoh's
dream he was freed and became the chief
man in government, the Bismarck OF the
nation; how in time of famine Joseph had
the control of a storehOuse which he had
filled during the seven years Of plenty;
now NnCu MS DlOlutls "EO uttu llIOWu
him into the pit and sold him into captiv
ity applied for corn he sent them home
with their beasts borne down under the
heft of the corn sacks; how the sin against
their brother which had so long been hid.
den came ont at last and was returned by
their brothers forgiveness and kindness,
an illustriOus triumph Of Christian prinCi-
pie.
Learn from this story in the first place
that the world is compelled to honor
Christian character. POtiphar was only G
man of the world, yet Joseph rose in his
estimation until all the affairs of that
great house were committed to his charge
From this servant no hOnors or confidence
were withheld. When Joseph was in
prison he soon won the heart of the keeper,
and, though placed there for being q scoun-
drel, he soon convinced the iailor that he
was an innocent and trustworthy man,
and, released from close confinement, he
became general superintendent Of prison
affairs. Wherever Joseph was placed,
whether servant in the house of Potiphar
or prisoner in the penitentiary, he he
came the first man everywhere and is an
illustration of the truth ! lay down, that
the world is compelled to
HONOR CHRISTIAN CHARACTER.
There are those who affect to despise
religious life. They speak OF it as a system
o. pLlebotOmy by which man is bled of all
his courage and nobility. The way he has
bemeaned himself. They pretend to have
no more confidence in him since his con-
version than before his conversion. But
all that is hypocrisy. 1t is impossible for
any man not to admire and cOnfde in 4
Christian who shows that he has really be-
come q child Of God and is what he pro-
fesses to be. You cannot despise son or
a daughter of the Lord God Almighty. OF
course half and half religious character
wins 10 appreciation. Redwald, the king
of the Saxons, after Christian baptism had
two affairs, one for the worship OF God and
the other for the sacrifice of devils You
NAV have a contempt for such men, for
mere pretension of religion, but
when YOU behold the excelleDcy of
Jesus Christ come out in the life of one Of
his disciples, all that tnere is good and
noble in your soul rises up into admira-
tion. Though that Christian he as far be
meath you in estate as the Egyptian slave
of whom we are discussing, by an irreyO-
cable law of our nature ROtibhar and rha-
raoh will always esteem Joseph. ChrysOs-
tom when threatened with death by
Eudoxia, the Empress, sent word to her
saving. "Go tell her that fear nothing
hut sin" Such nobility Of CHARACTER will
always Se applauded. There was some
thing in Agrippa and Felix which de-
manded their respect for Paul, the rebel
against government. | doubt not they
would willingly have yielded their office
and dignity for the tbousandth part of that
true heroism which beamed in the eye and
beat in the heart OF the uncnnquerable
apostle. The in6del and worldling are
compelled to
HONOR IN THEIR HEARTS,
though they may not eulogize with their
lips, a Christian firm in persecution, cheer
full in poverty, trustful in losses, trium-
phant iu death. I fiud Christian men in
all professions and occupations, and | find
them respected and hOnored, and sutcess-
fnl. John Frederick Oberlin sllevisting
ignorance and distress, John Howard piss
ing from dungeon TO lazarettO with healing
for the body and the soul, Elizabeth Frye
coming to the proHIgate Of Newgate prison
to shake down their obduracy as the angel
came to the prison at PhilipPi, driving
open the doors and swapping locks and
chains, as well as the lives Of thousands of
the followers of Jesus who have devoted
themselves to the temporal add spiritual
welfaye of tue Tscs, are monuments OF the
Christian religion that shall rot efumble
while the world lasts. A man in
the cars said: Il would like
10 become a Christian if ! only
knew what religion is. Bot if
this lyiog and cheating ard tAd
behavior among men vino profess to be
good is religion. ! want none Of it." But,
my friends, il am an artist in Rome and
a man comes to me and asks what the art
of painting Is, must not show him the
daub of some mere pretendeT. will take
him TO the Raphaels and the Michael
Angeles 1t is most unfair and dishonest
to take the ignominious failures in Christ;
ian profession instead Of the glorious suc-
cesSss The RihIA and the church are